1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to machines, including laser imaging and printing devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to toner-media fusing units used in laser imaging and printing devices and the use of the user non-perceivable light sources therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Laser printers and other imaging devices that employ toner transfer and toner fusing technology all rely upon a fusing unit to adhere toner particles, which form the images to some type of media, such as paper. The fusing operation makes the toner-transferred image durable and permanent. Techniques used for toner fusing employ heat and pressure to fuse the toner particles to the media. Current fusing technologies employ a two-roller arrangement that utilize a pressure roller and a heating (or fusing) roller. The two rollers are urged together with a predetermined amount of force. At least one of the rollers is driven to rotate. The combined pressure and rotation of the two rollers pinch and convey the media while heat and pressure serve to fuse the toner particles to the media.
There are two dominant technologies applied in fusing units. Both utilize a pressure roller and fusing roller. Typically, the fusing roller is located relative to the side of the media upon which the toner particles are deposited. Both rollers have a length at least as long as one of the media dimensions. In both technologies, the pressure roller consists of a rigid core, followed by a rubber or rubber-like covering that is coated with a release compound. The release coating prevents residual toner adhering to the fusing film from transferring to the pressure roller and thereby being inadvertently transferred to the back side of the media during subsequent print jobs. The pressure roller brings physical pressure against the fusing roller. The pressure is typically produced using spring force. In operation, toner is deposited on the media, which is usually paper, in advance of the fusing operation. The media is urged toward the pinch point of the pressure roller and fusing roller. The flattened area between the rollers is referred to as the nip of the rollers by those skilled in the art. As the media traverses the rollers, heat and pressure fuse the toner to the page. In a typical letter-sized paper printer, the fusing temperature is in the 150-200xc2x0 C. range and the force applied to the pressure roller is in the 10-15 kilogram force range for 9 inch pressure rollers.
In the first of the two dominant technologies, a ceramic heating element is used to heat the fusing roller. The ceramic heating element is a resistive heating element that is adhered to a ceramic substrate that has a long and narrow configuration. It produces the required fusing heat. The ceramic heating element is supported by a fixed and rigid support structure, usually fabricated from sheet metal, inside of the fusing roller covering. The ceramic heating element and its support structure do not rotate. The fusing roller is a flexible, tubular shaped structure formed from a suitable fusing roller material. The basic circular shape of the flexible fusing roller/film is maintained by the fixed and rigid support structure and the ceramic heater. The fusing roller covering does rotate in synchronous with the pressure roller. The fusing roller material has certain physical, electrical, and thermodynamic characteristics, which are appreciated by those skilled in the art. In particular, the material possesses good heat transfer characteristics, has a smooth exterior finish so that particles are not captured by its surface, can withstand the heat used in the fusing operation, and has electrostatic and other electrical properties consistent with the general principles of electrostatic toner management. Such principles are understood by those skilled in the art. Mylar, Polyester, and Polyamide materials coated with Teflon and TFE thermoplastics are suitable fusing roller materials, for example. The outer surface of the fusing roller contacts the media at the pinch point with the pressure roller. The ceramic heating element contacts the interior surface of the fusing roller at the same position as the media contacts the exterior surface. The fusing roller material is thin, which is useful to provide good heat transfer characteristics. The dominant heat transfer mechanism in a ceramic heater fusing unit is thermal conduction.
The second of the two dominant fusing technologies employs a bulb heating element instead of a ceramic heating element. The second dominant technology uses the same type of pressure roller. The fusing roller for a bulb heating element employs a rigid metallic tube to form the roller, which may be fabricated from aluminum or other suitable metal. The roller is covered with a fusing film that is adhered directly to the surface of the metallic tube. The fusing film has essentially the same physical, mechanical, and thermodynamic characteristics as the aforementioned fusing roller material. The fabrication process differs because the film is applied to a rigid metal tube. A long light bulb is disposed within the fusing roller tube. The light bulb produces visible light and radiant heat when it is energized. The metallic tube and fusing film rotate, while the bulb heater does not rotate. The light and heat couple to the inside surface of the metallic tube. The principle coupling mechanism is thermal radiation. The metal tube then conducts the heat through the roller to the media as it traverses the pinch point between the fusing roller and the pressure roller. In a letter-sized paper printer, the light bulb heating element is approximately 8-9 inches long and about xc2xcxe2x80x3 in diameter. The bulb comprises several filaments, each about an inch long.
While both of the ceramic heater and bulb heater fusers perform the desired fusing function in a toner imaging device, there are significant design trade-offs between the two. Bulb heaters are characterized by lower cost, often better robustness and reliability, and longer warm-up times. Ceramic heaters are characterized by higher cost and shorter warm-up times. The brittle nature of ceramic, along with its other mechanical properties, may result in reliability issues in some ceramic heater designs. This is due to the stresses of temperature cycling over many print jobs and the high pressures imparted by the pressure roller onto the ceramic substrate. The desire for low cost and high reliability is an obvious design choice. The desire for short warm-up time involves two concepts. First is the desire to reduce power consumption of the imaging device. The fuser heater draws a large amount of power, so it is very desirable to shut the heat off during idle periods. This implies that the fuser heater must warm-up prior to each printing operation. Thus, there is a desire to produce a short fuser heater warm-up time so that the time duration to the first page output after a printing operation is initialized is as short as possible. This is known as the xe2x80x9ctime to first page outxe2x80x9d by those skilled in the art. In fact, the time to first page out is an important perceptual aspect of the apparent performance of a laser-imaging device in the minds of consumers. Modern ceramic heater fuser devices achieve a time to first page out on the order of 10 seconds from a cold start. Bulb heater fuser devices have times to first page out in the 20-50 second range from a cold start.
Thus, it can be appreciate that there is a need in the art for an apparatus and method that uses lower cost bulb heater fusers while maintaining the performance and low time to first page out of ceramic-based fusers.
Further, as is well known in the art, laser print engines are utilized in a variety of machines, including laser printers, facsimile machines, laser photocopying machines, multi-function peripheral devices, and other business, office and home imaging machines. These machines typically include control panels, indicators and other user interface components, many of which are, or could be, illuminated. In fact, industrial designers of the aforementioned machines frequently prefer to use illumination to achieve industrial design objectives. Such objectives may include functional and/or stylistic design criteria. Process status indicators are an example of illuminated user interface components. Back-lit manufacturer logotypes are an example of an illuminated industrial design stylistic feature. Illuminated components are more readily noticed and identified by users than are non-illuminated components. Illuminated components enhance operation of a device where low ambient light levels exist. Illuminated components attract attention, which may be useful in achieving sales and marketing objectives.
While illuminated components are desirable from functional and stylistic perspectives, they add to the cost of the machine into which they are incorporated. The added cost must be balanced against the benefits realized. The addition of illuminated components to a machine requires the addition of a light-producing device, such as a light emitting diode, incandescent lamp, of other light-producing component. There is also a requirement to couple power to the light-producing device, either through wiring or printed circuitry. In addition, there is frequently a need to selectively activate the light-producing component, which can create a need to interface the control of the light-producing device to a controller of some type. At the least, the light-producing device needs to be switched on and off with the machine itself.
Virtually all laser-printing engines incorporate a fusing assembly, which applies heat and pressure to fuse a toner image to the media in the printing process. Heat is produced within the fusing assembly by an electric heater. Modern laser printing engines usually employ either a ceramic heating element or a bulb-heating element. Ceramic heaters include a resistive heating element that produces heat, which is conducted to the media for the fusing operation. Bulb heating elements produce radiant energy in the infrared and visible spectrums that is radiated from the bulb heater to other portions of the fusing assembly where the energy is converted to heat used in the fusing operation. The fusing assembly is located within the laser printing engine and is typically scaled to reasonably prevent the escape of the fusing energy from the fusing assembly to other areas of the laser print machine. The light produced by bulb heating elements is thus user non-perceivable.
It can be appreciated that visible spectrum light is utilized within the laser printing engine of the aforementioned machines which employ bulb-heating elements. There are other imaging machines that utilize visible light sources in their processes as well. Photo-imaging machines, such as copiers, image scanners and other machines use internal visible spectrum light sources in their processes.
Given the design incentives to incorporate illuminated components into machines, there is a need in the art for a system and method for utilizing existing user non-perceivable visible light sources within imaging machines for the purpose of illuminating user interface control panels, indicators and other user interface components.
The need in the art is addressed by the systems and methods of the present invention. An illustrative embodiment teaches a fusing unit for fusing toner to media. The fusing unit includes a heating, element that produces radiant energy and a thermal spreader that converts the radiant energy into heat that is used to fuse the toner to the media. The unit also includes a reflector that is positioned to reflect a portion of the radiant energy toward the thermal spreader. The heating element may be a bulb type heater or a ceramic element heater. The reflector may include a paraboloidal surface positioned to concentrate a portion of the radiant energy toward the thermal spreader. The reflector may be smooth or facetted. In a particular embodiment, the reflector is parabolic and positioned with the heating element at its focus. In another embodiment, the reflector is a paraboloidal trough and the heating element is linear and positioned along the focal line of the paraboloidal trough.
In a refinement of the invention, a fusing film is disposed between the thermal spreader and the media. The fusing film may be a thermoplastic, such as Mylar coated with Teflon. In another embodiment, a fusing roller is added with the heating element, the thermal spreader, and the reflector disposed within the fusing roller. The fusing roller may be rotatably supported and the heating element, the thermal spreader, and the reflector fixed against rotation. A pressure roller can be added which is supported to urge the media against the fusing roller. The rollers may be driven to rotate and advance the media through the fusing unit.
A system for utilizing light produced by a non-perceivable light source in a machine is also taught by the present invention. The system includes a mechanism for conveying the light from the user non-perceivable light source to a particular location within the machine and a component positioned at that location to receive the light. The component operates to utilize the light in a user perceivable manner. In one embodiment, the machine includes an opaque enclosure, and the mechanism for conveying light is an unobstructed pathway from the non-perceivable light source to the location. The component is positioned at an opening in the opaque enclosure. The mechanism to convey light can also be a reflective surface that directs the light towards the location, or a light pipe, or a fiber optic.
In a refinement to the foregoing invention, the mechanism for conveying light conveys light intermittently. This can be accomplished where the machine includes a device characterized by periodic motion, so that the mechanism for conveying light can convey light intermittently according to the periodic movement of the device characterized by periodic motion. In other refinements to the invention, the component may be translucent, or may be a logo or user interface indicator.
In a particular embodiment, a printing device that employs the advancement of the present invention is taught. The printing device includes a fusing unit that has a bulb heater that emits user non-perceivable light and a mechanism for conveying the light from the bulb heater to a location within the printing device. Also, a component positioned at the location to receive the light conveyed by the mechanism for conveying light and the component operates to utilize the light for illumination thereof in a user perceivable manner.